New to NCL - dining reservations questions

[jemdot]

Hi everyone,

My boyfriend and I will be sailing on NCL for the very first time in June (we usually sail with Royal Caribbean), and just wanted to get some insider info on how the specialty dining reservations work. We're sailing on the Escape and have one of those promo packages. Just now I hopped on the NCL website and tried to make a reservation for Le Bistro, but found that the only party of 2 slot available was for the first day. Gah, I'm late! We would prefer not to do specialty dining on the first day, but if I don't take that slot, what are the chances I would be able to get a reservation once on board? Is it a situation like they only release a certain number of spots for online reservations and the rest can be reserved once onboard? Also, I don't see an option to reserve Cagney's at all. Does this mean it is all filled up or is Cagney's usually not available to reserve online? If it is the latter, then what's the best chance for us to get a reservation once onboard? Do I make a mad dash towards Cagney's the second I step on the ship? Please tell me how! This is all making me very nervous. Thanks in advance!

[Diane123boys]

Dont freak out, call NCL or whomever you booked with and see if they can help you. Worse comes to worse when we cruised last year to Bermuda, we were told there were reservations available onboard.

[BirdTravels]

Hi everyone,

My boyfriend and I will be sailing on NCL for the very first time in June (we usually sail with Royal Caribbean), and just wanted to get some insider info on how the specialty dining reservations work. We're sailing on the Escape and have one of those promo packages. Just now I hopped on the NCL website and tried to make a reservation for Le Bistro, but found that the only party of 2 slot available was for the first day. Gah, I'm late! We would prefer not to do specialty dining on the first day, but if I don't take that slot, what are the chances I would be able to get a reservation once on board? Is it a situation like they only release a certain number of spots for online reservations and the rest can be reserved once onboard? Also, I don't see an option to reserve Cagney's at all. Does this mean it is all filled up or is Cagney's usually not available to reserve online? If it is the latter, then what's the best chance for us to get a reservation once onboard? Do I make a mad dash towards Cagney's the second I step on the ship? Please tell me how! This is all making me very nervous. Thanks in advance!

 

NCL will tell you that they only release a percentage of the tables for pre-sale. You can book onboard.

 

BUT, popular restaurants like Cagney's and Tepianyaki will fill up fast onboard. There will be a dining reservation area set up in the Headliners night club on embarkation day. Go there quickly to get the dinners you want (that don't conflict with the shows that you booked). There will be a LONG line for dinner reservations in the afternoon, so go early and book.

 

That's why a lot of folks book their reservations quickly once the countdown clock strikes 90 days before cruise.

[Mistizoom]

Do you have shows booked? If so they could interfere with dining reservations. They do only allow some dining to be booked ahead of time, so if it doesn't work, you will still be able to book onboard.

[jemdot]

NCL will tell you that they only release a percentage of the tables for pre-sale. You can book onboard.

 

BUT, popular restaurants like Cagney's and Tepianyaki will fill up fast onboard. There will be a dining reservation area set up in the Headliners night club on embarkation day. Go there quickly to get the dinners you want (that don't conflict with the shows that you booked). There will be a LONG line for dinner reservations in the afternoon, so go early and book.

 

That's why a lot of folks book their reservations quickly once the countdown clock strikes 90 days before cruise.

 

Thank you! This is exactly the info I was looking for. Ah, now we'll know for next cruise that I'll need to jump on the reservations 90 days out. I guess we'll try our luck onboard. Thanks to everyone who replied!

[Driberif1]

Hi everyone,

My boyfriend and I will be sailing on NCL for the very first time in June (we usually sail with Royal Caribbean), and just wanted to get some insider info on how the specialty dining reservations work. We're sailing on the Escape and have one of those promo packages. Just now I hopped on the NCL website and tried to make a reservation for Le Bistro, but found that the only party of 2 slot available was for the first day. Gah, I'm late! We would prefer not to do specialty dining on the first day, but if I don't take that slot, what are the chances I would be able to get a reservation once on board? Is it a situation like they only release a certain number of spots for online reservations and the rest can be reserved once onboard? Also, I don't see an option to reserve Cagney's at all. Does this mean it is all filled up or is Cagney's usually not available to reserve online? If it is the latter, then what's the best chance for us to get a reservation once onboard? Do I make a mad dash towards Cagney's the second I step on the ship? Please tell me how! This is all making me very nervous. Thanks in advance!

 

We just got off the Escape and everyone had us nervous prior to sailing because everyone had the dining package and was leaving posts that there would be no open reservations etc. We have went on multiple NCL cruises and never had an issue but with so much talk we were worried, we did make all our reservations for dinners and entertainment prior to the cruise and once we got on board it was ridiculously easy to eat almost anywhere anytime, although we had made all our reservations for later times like 8:30 we had decided to eat earlier each night like 6ish and a couple times we changed reservations and there was not a problem getting the new time we want and a few times we would just walk in and we never had to wait longer than 5 minutes. If you are in a rush to make the reservations once onboard I would not go to headliners as someone suggested, there are touch screens on every floor as you walk up/down stairs and you can just slide in your room key on one of those and make reservations right then instead of waiting in any lines. You did not mention this but I know for many it was a concern also about the Beverage package and having to wait in long lines to get drinks but once again it was just people being nervous and our longest wait to have our drink orders taken was about 45 seconds.

[jemdot]

We just got off the Escape and everyone had us nervous prior to sailing because everyone had the dining package and was leaving posts that there would be no open reservations etc. We have went on multiple NCL cruises and never had an issue but with so much talk we were worried, we did make all our reservations for dinners and entertainment prior to the cruise and once we got on board it was ridiculously easy to eat almost anywhere anytime, although we had made all our reservations for later times like 8:30 we had decided to eat earlier each night like 6ish and a couple times we changed reservations and there was not a problem getting the new time we want and a few times we would just walk in and we never had to wait longer than 5 minutes. If you are in a rush to make the reservations once onboard I would not go to headliners as someone suggested, there are touch screens on every floor as you walk up/down stairs and you can just slide in your room key on one of those and make reservations right then instead of waiting in any lines. You did not mention this but I know for many it was a concern also about the Beverage package and having to wait in long lines to get drinks but once again it was just people being nervous and our longest wait to have our drink orders taken was about 45 seconds.

 

Thanks for the tips!!! This makes me feel a lot better.

[fshagan]

Thanks for the tips!!! This makes me feel a lot better.

 

That has been our experience as well. The only specialty restaurant we have been shut out of is Teppanaki due to limited seating.

 

We have never, ever needed reservations for the main dining room, and have had a small wait a couple of times. But nothing like our on-land experience where you can wait 20 minutes or more for a table.

 

Some people like to plan everything out and some like to wing it. We like to wing it.